Egg-shaped ornament

ABSTRACT

An ornament is substantially egg-shaped. The egg-shaped ornament includes a base and an ornament portion. The ornament portion is mounted above the base. The overall center of gravity is at the lower portion of the egg-shaped ornament so that the egg-shaped ornament can shake like a tumbler.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an egg-shaped ornament.

2. Description of the Related Art

Most common egg-shaped ornaments are made of glass, or a certain type ofstone, and may have special patterns on their surfaces. The egg is asymbol of life, and the liquid within the shell of the egg signifies theliving flow of life.

However, the traditional hard, solid body, egg-shaped ornament is unableto express the emotion of the living flow of life.

In addition, the traditional hard, solid body, egg-shaped ornament doesnot provide sound or lighting effects to create more enjoyment.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide an egg-shaped ornament thatmitigates and/or obviates the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A main objective of the present invention is to provide an egg-shapedornament that shakes like a tumbler to increase user enjoyment.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an egg-shapedornament comprising a circuit that can provide sound, lighting andmovement effects for the egg-shaped ornament.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an egg-shapedornament comprising a detector in the circuit for providing interactionwith the user.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an egg-shapedornament comprising a liquid ornament above a base, the liquid in theliquid ornament expressing the living flow of life. Furthermore, a usercan gently push the egg-shaped ornament to cause the egg-shaped ornamentto shake like a tumbler.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the egg-shapedornament comprise: a base and an ornament portion placed above the base.The shape of the egg-shaped ornament is substantially egg-shaped with anoverall center of gravity being on a lower position of the egg-shapedornament so that the egg-shaped ornament is capable of shaking like atumbler.

In order to provide sound, lighting and movement effects for theegg-shaped ornament, the base of the egg-shaped ornament comprises acircuit that includes a battery, an illumination unit, an audio unit, acenter of gravity swing unit and a detector.

Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of an embodiment according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block drawing of a circuit for a first embodimentaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a centrifugal force switch.

FIG. 4 is a functional block drawing of a circuit for a secondembodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing of another embodiment according to thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of an embodimentaccording to the present invention.

An egg-shaped ornament 10 is substantially egg-shaped. The egg-shapedornament 10 includes a base 30 and an ornament portion 20. The ornamentportion 20 is mounted above on the base 30.

The base 30 is a shell with containment space. In this embodiment, aweight 35 is placed in the base 30. As a result, the egg-shaped ornamenthas a low center of gravity. Since the egg-shaped ornament 10 issubstantially egg-shaped, a bottom portion 31 of the base 30 has asmooth, curved surface that enables the egg-shaped ornament 20 to shakelike a tumbler. However, the weight 35 is not necessary, and may dependupon the weight distribution of the ornament portion 20 and the base 30.For example, less weight may be needed when the base 30 is made ofmetal, or the bottom portion 31 is thicker; or a circuit mechanism oranother unit (such as a clock, a motor) is placed in the base 30, whichadds weight in the lower portion of the egg-shaped ornament.

In this embodiment, the ornament portion 20 is a liquid ornament 50. Theliquid ornament 50 includes at least one liquid and at least onedecorative structure 53. In this embodiment, there are two liquids: afirst liquid 51 and a second liquid 52, as well as the decorativestructure 53. The first liquid 51 is less dense than the second liquid52, and the liquids are usually of different colors. The decorativestructure 53 is insoluble and floats between the first liquid 51 and thesecond liquid 52. The liquid ornament 50 may be of various designs; forexample, the decorative structure 53 is not a necessary component, or afixed decorative structure may be mounted at the bottom of the liquidornament 50. Furthermore, the egg-shaped ornament 20 can have otherdecorative characteristics, such as having sand, shells or beingperfumed.

To provide enhanced effects, in this embodiment, the base 30 furthercomprises a circuit 40. Please refer to both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. Thecircuit 40 comprises a battery 41, an illumination unit 42, an audiounit 43, a center of gravity swing unit 45, and a switch 49. Theillumination unit 42, for example, utilizes one or a plurality of LEDs.The audio unit 43, for example, a small speaker and works with simpleelectrical audio unit such as a music/audio IC or recordable audio IC.The center of gravity swing unit 45 is used to change the overall centerof gravity of the egg-shaped ornament 10. For example, an electric motor451 with a weight on a rotating shaft (or rotator) 452. When therotating shaft 452 rotates, the weight 453 will move the position of thecenter of gravity, thereby causing the egg-shaped ornament 10 to swing.The center of gravity swing unit 45 may have various designs, which arewell known to any person familiar in the field, and so requires nofurther description.

In a first embodiment of the circuit 40, when the battery 41 suppliespower, the egg-shaped ornament 10 generates sound, light and actioneffects. However, not all of the illumination unit 42, audio unit 43 andcenter of gravity swing unit 45 are necessary components; these unitscan be individually combined with each other as desired.

The switch 49 can be a button or other special type of switch, such as acentrifugal force switch 491 shown in FIG. 3 (usually placed at an outerregion of a rotating center), which turns on when a user rotates theegg-shaped ornament 10, the centrifugal force causing a moveable unit492 (such as a small spring) to touch a contact point 493 to conductelectrical power. Since the centrifugal force switch 491 is a verycommon unit, it requires no further description. It will cause a specialeffect when a centrifugal force switch 491 is applied. For example, thepresent invention could be a gift. A user can record some audio contents(e.g. “Happy Birthday”) on a recordable audio IC. Then, the personreceives the gift can rotates the egg-shaped ornament 10 and hear “HappyBirthday” played by the audio unit 43.

In order to provide more interesting effects, or to simplify thecircuit, the circuit mechanism 40 also has a control chip 48 (or anequivalent logic circuit). The control chip 48 controls the play time ofthe audio unit 43, or illumination manner of the illumination unit 42(such as creating a blinking effect, or continuous illumination), oraudio manner of the audio unit 43.

Please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a functional block drawing of acircuit of a second embodiment according to the present invention. Inthe second embodiment, a detector 47 is utilized to provide userinteraction. The detector 47 can be a sound detector 471; for example,when the user provides a predetermined sound, the battery 41 providespower to the illumination unit 42, the audio unit 43 and the center ofgravity swing unit 45. The detector 47 may also be a light sensor 472,or a vibration sensor 473. The centrifugal force switch 491 may also bea rotation detector 474. Therefore, like the above example, when a usertouch (or rotate, generate sound/light) the egg-shaped ornament 10 willplay “Happy Birthday”.

The base 30 can be composed of several cases, or the ornament portion 20can be composed of several decorative structures or cases. Furthermore,as shown in FIG. 5, an egg-shaped ornament 10 a has a slot 60 (for theplacing of a business card or note) on the ornament portion 20, and theshape of the egg-shaped ornament 10 a is still substantially egg-shaped.

Although the present invention has been explained in relation to itspreferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possiblemodifications and variations can be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

1. An egg-shaped ornament comprising: a base having a button portionwith a smooth curved surface and; an ornament portion placed above thebase; wherein the shape of the egg-shaped ornament is substantiallyegg-shaped with an overall center of gravity being on a lower positionof the egg-shaped ornament so that the egg-shaped ornament is capable ofshaking like a tumbler.
 2. The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim1, wherein the ornament portion is a liquid ornament, and the liquidornament includes at least one liquid.
 3. The egg-shaped ornament asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the base further comprises a weight.
 4. Theegg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base furthercomprises a circuit, and the circuit includes a battery and at least oneamusement element.
 5. The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 4,wherein the amusement element is selected from the group consisting ofan illumination unit, an audio unit and a center of gravity swing unit.6. The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 4, wherein the circuitfurther includes a detector for controlling the amusement element. 7.The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 5, wherein the circuitfurther includes a detector for controlling the amusement element. 8.The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 6, wherein the detector isselected from the group consisting of a sound detector, a light sensor,a vibration sensor, and a rotation detector.
 9. The egg-shaped ornamentas claimed in claim 7, wherein the detector is selected from the groupconsisting of a sound detector, a light sensor, a vibration sensor, anda rotation detector.
 10. The egg-shaped ornament as claimed in claim 4,wherein the circuit further includes a centrifugal force switch tosupply power from the battery when the egg-shaped ornament is rotated.